Mobile terminal, electronic device and method of controlling the same

ABSTRACT

A mobile terminal, an electronic device and a method of controlling the same are provided. The electronic device can be controlled easily and intuitively by using the mobile terminal including a touch device.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

This document relates to a mobile terminal and an electronic device and,more particularly, to a mobile terminal, an electronic device and amethod of controlling the electronic device easily and intuitivelythrough a touch device included in the mobile terminal.

2. Related Art

Recent electronic devices such as digital TVs have various functions inaddition to their own functions, and thus user interfaces forcontrolling these various functions also become complicated and arediversified.

Although terminals capable of controlling the electronic devicesincluding a remote controller are propagated, the terminals aredifficult to efficiently control the various functions.

SUMMARY

An aspect of this document is to provide a mobile terminal, anelectronic device and a method of controlling the electronic deviceeasily and intuitively through a touch device included in the mobileterminal.

According to a first aspect of this document, there is provided a mobileterminal capable of communicating with an electronic device including adisplay, which comprises a touch device; a communication unit configuredto communicate with the electronic device; and a controller configuredto match a display area of the display and a touch area of the touchdevice to each other based on the absolute coordinate system and totransmit control information including position information about asecond point of the display area, which corresponds to a first pointtouched through the touch area, to the electronic device through thecommunication unit.

According to a second aspect of this document, there is provided amobile terminal capable of communicating with an electronic deviceincluding a display, which comprises a touch device; a communicationunit configured to communicate with the electronic device; a sensingunit configured to sense the orientation of the touch device; and acontroller configured to transmit control information including positioninformation about a touched point in a touch area of the touch deviceand information about the current orientation of the touch device to theelectronic device through the communication unit.

According to a third aspect of this document, there is provided anelectronic device capable of communicating with a mobile terminalincluding a touch device, which comprises a display including a displayarea; a communication unit configured to communicate with the mobileterminal; and a controller configured to match the display area and atouch area of the touch device to each other based on the absolutecoordinate system, to receive control information including informationabout a touched point in the touch area from the mobile terminal throughthe communication unit and to execute a function relating a point of thedisplay area, which corresponds to the touched point of the touch area.

According to a fourth aspect of this document, there is provided amethod of controlling an electronic device including a display through amobile terminal capable of communicating the electronic device, themethod comprising: matching a display area of the display and a toucharea of a touch device included in the touch device to each other basedon the absolute coordinate system; receiving a touch input applied to afirst point included in the touch area; and transmitting controlinformation including position information about a second point of thedisplay area, which corresponds to the first point, to the electronicdevice.

According to a fifth aspect of this document, there is provided a methodof controlling an electronic device including a display through a mobileterminal capable of communicating the electronic device, the methodcomprising: receiving a touch input applied to a point included in atouch area of a touch device included in the mobile terminal; acquiringinformation about the current orientation of the touch device; andtransmitting control information including position information aboutthe point and the information about the orientation to the electronicdevice.

According to a sixth aspect of this document, there is provided a methodof controlling an electronic device capable of communicating with amobile terminal including a touch device, the method comprising:matching a display area of a display included in the electronic deviceand a touch area of the touch device to each other based on the absolutecoordinate system; receiving control information including informationabout a touched point of the touch area from the mobile terminal; andexecuting a function relating to a point of the display area, whichcorresponds to the touched point of the touch device.

According to the mobile terminal, the electronic device and the methodof controlling the same of this document, a touch area of a touch deviceincluded in the mobile terminal and a display area of a display of theelectronic device are matched to each other one to one, and thus theuser can intuitively control the display area through the touch area.

Furthermore, a variation in the posture of the mobile terminal isautomatically sensed and the posture variation is reflected in thematching relationship between touch area and the display area such thatthe user can maintain intuition.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The implementation of this document will be described in detail withreference to the following drawings in which like numerals refer to likeelements.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system to which this document is applied;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a DTV according to an embodiment of thisdocument;

FIG. 3 illustrates the external appearance of a mobile terminal 100according to an embodiment of this document;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the mobile terminal 100 shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 illustrates the external appearance of a cellular phone as anexample of the mobile terminal 100 of this document;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling a DTVaccording to an embodiment of this document;

FIG. 7 is illustrates an example of matching a display area and a toucharea to each other;

FIG. 8 is a view for explaining one-to-one correspondence of the toucharea and the display area shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary operation of controlling a pointerdisplayed on the display area;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating operation S100 shown in FIG. 6,performed in consideration of the orientation of a touch device 30;

FIG. 11 is a view for explaining a variation in the orientation of thetouch device 30;

FIGS. 12 and 13 illustrate an operation of acquiring information aboutthe orientation of the touch device 30 using a grab sensor 141;

FIG. 14 illustrates another example of the one-to-one correspondence ofthe touch area and the display area;

FIG. 15 is a view for explaining a variation in the control operation ofthe DTV shown in FIG. 2 according to a change in the orientation of thetouch device 30;

FIGS. 16 and 17 are views for explaining a method of one-to-one matchingthe touch area and the display area;

FIGS. 18 and 19 are views for explaining a case that parts of a displayunit are set as a display area;

FIG. 20 illustrates an operation of controlling an icon displayed on theDTV 10; and

FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling a DTVaccording to another embodiment of this document.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This document will now be described more fully with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments of this documentare shown. This document may, however, be embodied in many differentforms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodimentsset forth herein; rather, there embodiments are provided so that thisdisclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey theconcept of this document to those skilled in the art.

Hereinafter, a mobile terminal relating to this document will bedescribed below in more detail with reference to the accompanyingdrawings. In the following description, suffixes “module” and “unit” aregiven to components of the mobile terminal in consideration of onlyfacilitation of description and do not have meanings or functionsdiscriminated from each other.

A system to which this document is applied may include an electronicdevice and a mobile terminal for controlling the electronic device. Thisdocument will be described on the assumption that the electronic devicecorresponds to a digital television receiver (DTV). However, theelectronic device disclosed in this document is not limited to the DTV.For example, the electronic device may be a set-top box, an Internetprotocol TV (IPTV), a personal computer or the like.

FIG. 1 illustrates the system to which this document is applied.Referring to FIG. 1, the system may include a DTV 10, a mobile terminal100, a broadcasting station 300, and the Internet 400.

The DTV 10 may receive broadcasting signals from the broadcastingstation 300 and output the broadcasting signals. The DTV 10 may includea device that can be linked to the Internet 400 according totransmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP).

The DTV 10 and the mobile terminal 100 may be connected to each other ina wired manner and/or a wireless manner to transmit/receive data.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the DTV 10 shown in FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 2, the DTV 10 may include a tuner 11, a demodulator12, a demultiplexer 13, an audio/video decoder 14, a display 15, aprogram and system information/program and system information protocol(PSI/PSIP) database 16, a PSI/PSIP decoder 17, a channel manager 18, achannel map 19, a controller 20, a flash memory 21, and a communicationunit 22.

The tuner 11 may receive a digital broadcasting signal including aPSI/PSIP table. The operation of the tuner 11 may be controlled by thechannel manager 18, and thus the digital broadcasting signal received bythe tuner 11 is recorded in the channel manager 18. The tuner 11 mayinclude multiple tuners to receive multiple channels.

The demodulator 12 receives a signal tuned by the tuner 11 anddemodulates the signal into a vestigial side band/enhanced vestigialside band (VSB/EVSB) signal.

The demultiplexer 13 receives transmission packets demodulated by thedemodulator 12 and demultiplexes the transmission packets into audio,video and PSI/PSIP table data. Here, the demultiplexing of thetransmission data into the PSI/PSIP table data may be controlled by thePSI/PSIP decoder 17 and the demultiplexing of the transmission data intothe audio and video data may be controlled by the channel manager 18.

When the PSI/PSIP decoder 17 sets PID for a desired table as acondition, the demultiplexer 13 generates PSI/PSIP table sections thatsatisfy the PID from the transmission packets and transmits the PSI/PSIPtable sections to the PSI/PSIP decoder 17. In addition, when the channelmanager 18 sets A/V PID of a virtual channel as a condition, thedemultiplexer 13 demultiplexes A/V elementary streams and transmits thedemultiplexed A/V elementary streams to the A/V decoder 14. The A/Vdecoder decodes received broadcasting data according to a correspondingcoding method.

The PSI/PSIP decoder 17 parses the PSI/PSIP table sections, reads allthe remaining actual section data that is not filtered by themultiplexer 13 and records the actual section data in the PSI/PSIPdatabase 16.

The channel manager 18 may request for channel related information tablewith reference to the channel map and receive the request result. Here,the PSI/PSIP decoder 17 multiplexes the channel related informationtable and transmits an A/V PDI list to the channel manager 18. Thechannel manager 18 may directly control the multiplexer 13 using thereceived A/V PID list so as to control the A/V decoder 14.

The controller 20 may control a graphical user interface (GUI) thaton-screen-displays a state of a receiver system. In addition, thecontroller 20 controls the aforementioned components and handles theoverall operation of the DTV 10.

The display 15 outputs broadcasting data output from the A/V decoder 14as sounds and images. The display 15 may include physically logicallyseparated display units. The display 15 may receive and outputbroadcasting data and have all of display functions of the conventionalDTV. The display 15 may display data broadcast, teletext, caption,advertisements, etc., which are separated from the broadcasting data orseparately received. In addition, the display 15 may display additionalinformation including stock information and weather information and aninstant message window.

The communication unit 22 may communicate with the mobile terminal 100.For example, the communication unit 22 can communicate with the mobileterminal 100 according to near field communication such as RFcommunication, infrared-ray communication and Bluetooth. However, thecommunication method between the mobile terminal 100 and the DTV 10 isnot limited thereto.

FIG. 3 illustrates the external appearance of the mobile terminal 100shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the mobile terminal 100shown in FIG. 3. The mobile terminal 100 will now be explained in detailwith reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

The mobile terminal 100 may include a touch device 30, a radiocommunication unit 110, a user input unit 130, a sensing unit 140, ahaptic module 150, a memory 160, an interface 170, a controller 180, anda power supply 190. The components of the mobile terminal 100 are notlimited to those shown in FIG. 4, and thus the mobile terminal 100 mayinclude a number of components greater or smaller than the number of thecomponents shown in FIG. 4.

The touch device 30 includes a sensor sensing a touch operation(referred to as ‘touch sensor’ hereinafter). The touch sensor may have aform of touch film, touch sheet, touch pad or the like.

The touch sensor may be configured to convert a variation in thepressure applied to a specific point of the touch device 30 or avariation in the capacitance generated at a specific point of the touchdevice 30 into an electric input signal. The touch sensor may sensetouch pressure as well as a touched point and area.

When a touch input is applied to the touch sensor, a signal (or signals)corresponding to the touch input is sent to a touch controller. Thetouch controller processes the signal (or signals) and transmits datacorresponding to the touched signal (or signals) to the controller 180such that the controller 180 can recognize which region of the touchdevice 30 is touched.

The touch device 30 may include a display. In this case, the touchdevice 30 can function as a display device as well as an input device.

The radio communication unit 110 may include at least one module thatenables radio communication between the mobile terminal 100 and a radiocommunication system, between the mobile terminal 100 and a networkincluding the mobile terminal 100 is located or between the mobileterminal 100 and the DTV 10. For example, the radio communication unit110 can include a mobile communication module, a wireless Internetmodule and a near-field communication module.

The mobile communication module transmits/receives radio signals to/fromat least one of a base station on a mobile communication network, anexternal terminal and a server. The radio signals may include voice callsignals, video telephony call signals, and data in various formsaccording to text/multimedia message transmission/reception.

The wireless Internet module is used for wireless Internet access andmay be built in the mobile terminal 100 or externally attached to themobile terminal 100. Wireless LAN (WLAN) (Wi-Fi), wireless broadband(Wibro), world interoperability for microwave access (Wimax), high speeddownlink packet access (HSDPA), etc. may be used as a wireless Internettechnique.

The short-range communication module means a module for near fieldcommunication. Bluetooth, radio frequency identification (RFID),infrared data association (IrDA), ultra wideband (UWB) and ZigBee may beused as a near field communication technique.

The user input unit 130 receives input data for controlling theoperation of the mobile terminal 100 from a user. The user input unit130 may include a keypad, a dome switch, a touch pad (constantvoltage/capacitance), a jog wheel, a jog switch, etc.

The sensing unit 140 senses the current state of the mobile terminal100, such as open/close state of the mobile terminal 100, the positionof the mobile terminal 100, whether or not the user touches the mobileterminal 100, the orientation of the mobile terminal 100 andacceleration/deceleration of the mobile terminal 100, and generates asensing signal for controlling the operation of the mobile terminal 100.For example, the sensing unit 140 can sense whether a slide phone isopened or closed when the mobile terminal 100 is the slide phone.Furthermore, the sensing unit 140 can sense whether or not the powersupply 190 supplies power and whether or not the interface 170 isconnected to an external device. The sensing unit 140 may include aproximity sensor.

In addition, the sensing unit 140 may include at least one of a grabsensor 141 and an acceleration sensor 142. The grab sensor 141 may bearranged to sense an external object's contact point on the body of themobile terminal 100. For example, the grab sensor 141 can include first,second, third and fourth grab sensors 141 a, 141 b, 141 c and 141 drespectively arranged in regions corresponding to four sides of thetouch device 30, as shown in FIG. 3. However, the arrangement of thegrab sensor 141 is not limited to that shown in FIG. 3. The grab sensor141 may be arranged in different manners and the number of sensorsincluded in the grab sensor 141 may be changed. For example, when theuser grabs the right side of the mobile terminal 100 with his/her righthand, the third grab sensor 141 c can sense the grab and transmit asignal corresponding to the grab to the controller 180.

The acceleration sensor 142 may be a 3-axis accelerometer.

The haptic module 150 generates various haptic effects that the user canfeel. A representative example of the haptic effects is vibration. Theintensity and pattern of vibration generated by the haptic module 154can be controlled. For example, different vibrations can be combined andoutput or sequentially output.

The haptic module 150 can generate a variety of haptic effects includingan effect of stimulus according to the arrangement of pins verticallymoving for a contact skin face, an effect of stimulus according to a jetforce or a sucking force of air through a jet hole or a sucking hole, aneffect of stimulus rubbing the skin, an effect of stimulus according tothe contact of an electrode, an effect of stimulus using electrostaticforce and an effect according to reproduction of cold and warmth usingan element capable of absorbing or radiating heat in addition tovibrations.

The haptic module 150 may not only transmit haptic effects throughdirect contact but also allow the user to feel haptic effects throughkinesthetic sense of his/her fingers or arms. The mobile terminal 100may include at least two haptic modules 150 according to theconfiguration of the mobile terminal.

The memory 160 may store a program for the operation of the controller180 and temporarily store input/output data (for example, phone book,messages, still images, moving images, etc.). The memory 160 may storedata about vibrations and sounds in various patterns, which are outputwhen a touch input is applied to the touch device 30.

The memory 160 can include at least one of a flash memory, a hard disktype memory, a multimedia card micro type memory, a card type memory(for example, SD or XD memory), a random access memory (RAM), a staticRAM (SRAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an electrically erasableprogrammable ROM (EEPROM), a programmable ROM (PROM), a magnetic memory,a magnetic disk, and an optical disk. The mobile terminal 100 mayoperate in relation to a web storage performing the storing function ofthe memory 160 on the Internet.

The interface 170 serves as a path to all of external devices connectedto the mobile terminal 100. The interface 170 receives data or powerfrom the external devices and transmits the data or power to theinternal components of the mobile terminal 100 or transmits data of themobile terminal 100 to the external devices. The interface 170 caninclude a wired/wireless headset port, an external charger port, awired/wireless data port, a memory card port, a port for connecting adevice having a user identification module, an audio I/O port, a videoI/O port, an earphone port, etc., for example.

The interface 170 may serve as a path through which power from anexternal cradle is provided to the mobile terminal 100 when the mobileterminal 100 is connected to the external cradle or a path through whichvarious command signals inputted by the user through the cradle to themobile terminal 100. The various command signals or power input from thecradle can be used as signals for confirming whether the mobile terminal100 is correctly set in the cradle.

The controller 180 controls the overall operation of the mobile terminal100. For example, the controller 180 performs control and processing forvoice communication, data communication and video telephony. Thecontroller 180 may include a multimedia module for playing multimedia.The multimedia module may be included in the controller 180 or separatedfrom the controller 180.

The power supply 190 receives external power and internal power andprovides power required for the operations of the components of themobile terminal under the control of the controller 180.

Various embodiments of this document can be implemented in a computer orsimilar device readable recording medium using software, hardware or acombination thereof, for example.

According to hardware implementation, the embodiments of this documentcan be implemented using at least one of application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signalprocessing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), fieldprogrammable gate arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers,micro-controllers, microprocessors, electrical units for executingfunctions. In some cases, the embodiments can be implemented by thecontroller 180.

According to software implementation, embodiments such as procedures orfunctions can be implemented with a separate software module executingat least one function or operation. Software codes can be implementedaccording to a software application written in an appropriate softwarelanguage. Furthermore, the software codes can be stored in the memory160 and executed by the controller 180.

Various embodiments of this document will now be explained in detail.

As described above, the mobile terminal 100 and the DTV 10 can beconnected to each other in a wired or wireless manner. The mobileterminal 100 can be used as a remote controller for controlling the DTV10. However, the mobile terminal 100 is not limited to the conventionalremote controller.

The mobile terminal 100 disclosed in this document can include anyelectronic device capable of communicating with the DTV 10. For example,the mobile terminal 100 can include a remote controller, a cellularphone, a smart phone, a laptop computer, a digital broadcastingterminal, personal digital assistants (PDA), a navigation system, etc.

FIG. 5 illustrates the external appearance of a cellular phone as anexample of the mobile terminal 100.

The display 15 included in the DTV 10 shown in FIG. 1 includes a displayarea displaying contents. The touch device 30 included in the mobileterminal 100 includes a touch area. The display area may correspond tothe overall or part of the display 15 and the touch area may correspondto the overall or part of the touch device 30.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method of controlling a DTV according to anembodiment of the present invention. The method of controlling a DTV maybe implemented in the DTV 10 and the mobile terminal 100 described withreference to FIGS. 1 through 5. The method of controlling a DTVaccording to an embodiment of the present invention and operations ofthe DTV 10 and the mobile terminal 100 to implement the method will nowbe explained in detail with reference to the attached drawings.

The mobile terminal 100 matches the display area of the display 15 ofthe DTV 10 and the touch area of the touch device 300 to each other suchthat the display area and the touch area correspond to each other basedon the absolute coordinate system in operation S100.

The mobile terminal 100 may store resolution information of the display15 of the DTV 10 or the display area in the memory 160. In addition, themobile terminal 100 may receive the resolution information of thedisplay 15 or the display area from the DTV 10.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of matching the display area and the toucharea to each other. In FIG. 7, the whole display 15 corresponds to thedisplay area and the whole touch device 30 corresponds to the toucharea. Otherwise, the display area may correspond to part of the display15 and the touch area may correspond to part of the touch device 30.

Referring to FIG. 7, the mobile terminal 100 matches the display area 15to the touch area 30 such that points A, B, C and D of the display 15are respectively correspond to points a, b, c and d of the touch area30. Accordingly, the points A, B, C and D of the display 15 areone-to-one correspond to the points a, b, c and d of the touch area 30.

The memory 160 included in the mobile terminal 100 can store informationabout the matching relationship between the touch area 30 and thedisplay area 15.

The mobile terminal 100 receives a touch applied to a first point on thetouch area 30 in operation S110. As the touch area 30 is touched, themobile terminal 100 may control the haptic module 150 to generatevibrations in operation S111.

The controller 180 of the mobile terminal 100 may acquire positioninformation about a second point on the display area 15, whichcorresponds to the touched first point on the touch area 30 in operationS120. The controller 180 of the mobile terminal 100 may perform theoperation S120 according to the matching relationship made in theoperation S110.

FIG. 8 is a view for explaining the one-to-one correspondence of thetouch area 30 and the display area 15. Referring to FIG. 8, a point e(first point) on the touch area 30, touched by an external object 32,may correspond to a specific point E (second point) on the display area15. Accordingly, the controller 180 can acquire position information ofthe point E on the display area 15 when the external object 32 touchesthe point e on the touch area 30. The position information of the pointE may include the coordinate value of the point E on the display area15.

The mobile terminal 100 transmits control information including theposition information of the second point to the DTV 10 in operationS130.

The DTV 10 may output specific contents in operation S140. For example,the DTV 10 can display the specific contents on the display 15.

The contents output from the DTV 10 may include a still image, a movingimage, a text and an object. For example, the contents can be a picture,a broadcasting program, music or a movie and the object can be a userinterface, a graphical user interface or an icon.

The DTV 10 receives the control information from the mobile terminal 100and executes a function related to the second point according to theposition information of the second point, included in the receivedcontrol information in operation S150. The function related to thesecond point may include various functions. For example, the functionrelated to the second point can include at least one of a function oflocating a pointer on the second point, a function of selecting an iconplaced on the second point and a function of executing the icon.

Referring to FIG. 8, when the external object 32 touches the point e onthe touch area 30, the controller 20 of the DTV 10 can display a pointer33 on the specific point E on the display area 15, which is correspondsto the touched point e on the touch area 30.

The mobile terminal 100 can acquire information on the intensity of thetouch. In addition, the mobile terminal 100 can transmit the controlinformation including the information on the intensity of the touch tothe DTV 10.

The DTV 10 can perform a function according to the intensity of thetouch when the control information includes the information on theintensity of the touch.

If a specific icon is located on the point corresponding to the positioninformation included in the control information received from the mobileterminal 100, the DTV 10 selects the specific icon when the intensity ofthe touch, included in the control information, is lower than areference value and executes a specific function corresponding to thespecific icon when the intensity of the touch is higher than thereference value. That is, the user can select the specific icon bylightly touching the point on the touch area 30, which corresponds tothe point on which the specific icon is located, or execute a functioncorresponding to the specific icon by strongly touching the point.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of controlling the pointer 33 indicated onthe display area 15.

Referring to FIG. 9, when the user touches the first point e withhis/her finger, the mobile terminal 100 acquires position informationabout the second point E on the display area 30, which corresponds tothe first point e, and transmits the position information to the DTV 10.The DTV 10 locates the pointer 33 on the second point E. Then, if theuser drags his/her finger 32 from the first point e to a third point f,the mobile terminal 100 transmits information about the draggingoperation to the DTV 10. The DTV 10 receives the control informationabout the dragging operation from the mobile terminal 100 and moves thepointer 33 to a fourth point F corresponding to the second point f onthe touch area 30.

Meantime, the controller 180 of the mobile terminal 100 can consider theorientation of the touch device 30 when performing the operation S100.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the operation S100 carried out inconsideration of the orientation of the touch device 30.

Referring to FIG. 10, the controller 180 senses a variation in theorientation of the touch device 30 in operation S103. The sensing unit140 included in the mobile terminal 100 can acquire information aboutthe orientation of the touch device 30 such as a variation in theorientation of the touch device 30.

FIG. 11 is a view for explaining a variation in the orientation of thetouch device 30. FIG. 11( a) shows the touch device 30 when located inportrait mode, FIG. 11( b) shows the touch device 300 when tilted, andFIG. 11( c) shows the touch device 30 when located in landscape mode.

The sensing unit 140 can acquire the information about the orientationof the touch device 30 in various manners. For example, the sensing unit140 can sense rotation of the touch device 30 on an axis perpendicularto the surface of the touch device 30 using the acceleration sensor 142.

If the user tilts the mobile terminal 100 in the state shown in FIG. 11(a) to the state shown in FIG. 11( c), the controller 180 can sense thetilting through the acceleration sensor 142 and recognize that the touchdevice 30 has been changed from portrait mode to the landscape mode.

Furthermore, the sensing unit 140 can acquire the information about theorientation of the touch device 30 using the grab sensor 141.

FIGS. 12 and 13 are views for explaining a method of acquiring theinformation about the orientation of the touch device 30 using the grabsensor 141.

Referring to FIG. 12, the user grabs a portion of the mobile terminal100, which corresponds to the third grab sensor 141 c, with his/herright hand 33 a. The controller 180 can receive a signal from the thirdgrab sensor 141 c and recognize that the touch device 30 is located inportrait mode.

Referring to FIG. 13, the user grabs a portion of the mobile terminal100, which corresponds to the first grab sensor 141 a, with his/herright hand 33 a and grabs a portion of the mobile terminal 100, whichcorresponds to the second grab sensor 141 b, with his/her left hand 33b. The controller 180 can receive signals from the first and second grabsensors 141 a and 141 b and recognize that the touch device 30 islocated in landscape mode. In addition, the controller 180 can acquirethe information about the orientation of the touch device 30 using boththe grab sensor 141 and the acceleration sensor 142. Here, thecontroller 180 uses one of the grab sensor 141 and the accelerationsensor 142 as main means and uses the other as supplementary means toacquire the information about the orientation of the touch device 30.Otherwise, the controller 180 can acquire the information about theorientation of the touch device 30 using one of the grab sensor 141 andthe acceleration sensor 142 according to circumstances without givingpriority to the grab sensor 141 and the acceleration sensor 142.

For example, the controller 180 may not acquire correct informationabout the orientation of the touch device 30 only using informationreceived from the acceleration sensor 142 if the mobile terminal 100 islocated in the state shown in FIG. 11( b). Here, the controller 180 canacquire the correct information about the orientation of the touchdevice 30 using information transmitted from the grab sensor 141.

The controller 180 determines whether the orientation variation sensedin the operation S103 is included in predetermined standards inoperation S104 and matches the display area 15 and the touch area 30 toeach other based on the absolute coordinate system in consideration ofthe changed orientation in operation S105 when the orientation variationis included in the predetermined standards.

For example, a change from the state shown in FIG. 11( a) to the stateshown in FIG. 11( b) may not be included in the predetermined standardsand a change from the state shown in FIG. (a) to the state shown in FIG.11( c) may be included in the predetermined standards. The followingembodiments will be described on the assumption that the predeterminedstandards include the portrait mode shown in FIGS. 11( a) and 12 and thelandscape mode shown in FIGS. 11( c) and 13. However, the predeterminedstandards are not limited to the portrait and landscape modes.

FIG. 14 is a view for explaining an example of the matching relationshipbetween the touch area 30 and the display area 15. FIG. 14 shows thematching relationship between the touch area 30 and the display area 15when the touch device 30 is located in portrait mode.

When the orientation of the touch device 30 is changed from portraitmode to landscape mode, the controller 180 of the mobile terminal 100may match the touch area 30 and the display area 15 to each other one toone such that points a, b, c and d of the touch area 30 respectivelycorrespond to points B, C, D and A of the display area 15, as shown inFIG. 14.

FIG. 15 is a view for explaining a variation in the control operation ofthe DTV 10 according to a variation in the orientation of the touchdevice 30. FIG. 15( a) shows the touch device 30 when located inportrait mode and FIG. 15( b) shows the touch device 30 located inlandscape mode. A touched point g shown in FIG. 15( a) and a touchedpoint g shown in FIG. 15( b) are physically identical.

When the user touches the point g on the touch device 30 being in thesate shown in FIG. 15( a) with his/her finger 32, the DTV 10 can displaythe pointer 33 on a point G1 corresponding to the touched point g. Whenthe user touches the point g on the touch device 30 being in the stateshown in FIG. 15( b) with his/her finger 32, the DTV 10 can display thepointer 33 on a point G2 corresponding to the touched point g.

That is, the mobile terminal 100 can automatically generate differentposition information signals respectively corresponding to points on thetouch device 30 even when the points are physically identical andtransmit the different position information signals to the DTV 10 whenthe orientation of the touch device 30 is changed.

Accordingly, the user can use the touch device 30 as if he/she touchesthe display area 15 in an intuitive manner for the current orientationof the mobile terminal 100 or the touch device 30, as shown in FIG. 15.

FIGS. 16 and 17 are views for explaining the method of matching thetouch area 30 and the display area 15 to each other one to one in moredetail. It is assumed that the touch area 30 has a resolution of1,366×1,366 and the display area 15 of the DTV 10 has a resolution of1,366×1,080.

When the touch device 30 is in portrait mode, as shown in FIG. 16, thetouch area 30 has a resolution of 1,366 on the X axis and has aresolution of 1,080 on the Y axis. When the touch device 30 is inlandscape mode, as shown in FIG. 17, the touch area 30 and the displayarea 15 are matched to each other in the same manner as that shown inFIG. 16.

The controller 180 of the mobile terminal 100 may consider a variationin the size of the display area of the display 15 or a variation in theresolution of the display area of the display 15 when performing theoperation S100.

As described above, the DTV 10 can set the whole or part of the display15 as the display area.

FIGS. 18 and 19 are views for explaining the case that part of thedisplay 15 is set as the display area. For example, the DTV 10 can setpart 50 of the display 15 as the display area, as shown in FIG. 19, atthe request of the user or according to the resolution of contents. Whenthe part of the display 15 is set as the display area 50, the touch area30 of the mobile terminal 100 can be set to correspond to the displayarea 50.

Referring to FIG. 18, the controller 180 of the mobile terminal 100 mayreceive information about the resolution of contents displayed on thedisplay 15 from the DTV 10 in operation S106. The controller 180determines whether the received resolution information has been changedfrom previously stored resolution information in operation S107.

Referring to FIG. 19, the DTV 10 outputs the contents through thedisplay area 50 corresponding to part of the display 15. Here, themobile terminal 100 may receive information on the resolution of thedisplay area from the DTV 10 and recognize that the received resolutioninformation has been changed from the resolution of the whole display15.

When the controller 180 determines that the received resolutioninformation has been changed in operation S170, the controller 180matches the display area 50 and the touch area 30 to each other base onthe absolute coordinate system in consideration of the changedresolution in operation S108.

Referring to FIG. 19, the controller 180 can match the touch area 30 andthe display area 50 to each other such that points a, b, c and d of thetouch area 30 respectively correspond to points H, I, J and K of thedisplay area 50.

The above embodiments have been described on the basis of the operationof controlling the position of the pointer 33 displayed on the displayarea of the DTV 10. However, the DTV 10 can perform other functionsaccording to touch inputs received through the touch device 30 of themobile terminal 10, as described above.

FIG. 20 illustrates an operation of controlling an icon displayed on thedisplay 15 of the DTV 10. Specifically, FIG. 20 is a view for explainingan operation of executing a function related to the icon displayed onthe display 15 of the DTV 10 as a touch input is applied to the touchdevice 30 of the mobile terminal 100.

Referring to FIG. 20, the controller 20 (shown in FIG. 2) of the DTV 10may display icons on the display 15. When the user touches a point m onthe touch device 30, which corresponds to a point on which a specificicon 51 is displayed, the DTV 10 may locate the pointer 33 on the pointon which the specific icon 51 is placed and select or execute thespecific icon 51.

When the control information transmitted from the mobile terminal 100 tothe DTV 10 includes the information about the intensity of the touchinput, the DTV 10 can select or execute the specific icon 51 accordingto the intensity of the touch input, as described above. For example,the DTV 10 can select the specific icon when the intensity of the touchinput is lower than the predetermined value and execute the specificicon 51 when the intensity of the touch input is higher than thereference value.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart of a method of controlling a DTV according toanother embodiment of this document. The method of controlling a DTVaccording to the current embodiment of this document can be implementedin the DTV 10 and the mobile terminal 100 explained with reference toFIGS. 1 through 5. The method of controlling a DTV according to thecurrent embodiment of this document and operations of the DTV 10 and themobile terminal 100 to implement the method will now be explained withreference to FIG. 21 and required figures.

The DTV 10 outputs contents in operation S200. The operation S200 isidentical to the operation S140 shown in FIG. 6 so that detailedexplanation thereof is omitted.

The DTV 10 matches the display area 15 and the touch area 30 to eachother based on the absolute coordinate system in operation S210. Thememory 21 of the DTV 10 may store information about the resolution ofthe touch area 30. The DTV 10 may perform the operation S210 withreference to the information about the resolution of the touch area 30,stored in the memory 21. In addition, the DTV 10 can execute theoperation S210 in consideration of the orientation of the touch device30. For example, the controller 20 of the DTV 10 can match the displayarea 15 and the touch area 30 to each other based on the state of thetouch device 30 shown in FIG. 11( a).

Furthermore, the DTV 10 can perform the step S210 in consideration ofthe resolution of the contents or part of the display area 15 when theresolution of the contents displayed on the display 15 is changed or thepart of the display 15 is set as the display area according to setting,as described above with reference to FIGS. 18 and 19.

The mobile terminal 100 receives a signal corresponding to a touchapplied to a first point on the touch area 30 in operation S220. Themobile terminal 100 may control the haptic module 150 to generatevibrations when receiving the signal corresponding to the touch appliedto the first point, as in the operation S111 shown in FIG. 6

The mobile terminal 100 may control the sensing unit 140 to acquireinformation about the orientation of the touch device 30 in operationS230. The method of acquiring the information about the orientation ofthe touch device 30 is identical to that described in the aforementionedembodiment.

The mobile terminal 100 transmits control information including theposition information of the first point and the acquired orientationinformation to the DTV 10 in operation S240. The control informationtransmitted from the mobile terminal 100 to the DTV 10 may includeinformation about the intensity of the touch applied to the first point,as described above.

The DTV 10 receives the control information from the mobile terminal100. The DTV 10 determines whether the orientation of the touch device30, included in the control information, corresponds to the currentreference orientation in operation S250.

When the orientation information included in the control informationdoes not correspond to the current reference orientation, the DTV 10returns to the operation S210. Then, the DTV 10 re-performs theoperation S210 in consideration of the received orientation informationto match the touch area 30 and the display area 15 to each other one toone based on the current orientation of the touch device 30.

The DTV 10 may acquire position information of a second point on thedisplay area 15 corresponding to the first point, which is included inthe control information, according to the matching relationship betweenthe touch area 30 and the display area 15 in operation S260.

Then, the DTV 10 may perform a function related to the second point inoperation S270. The operation S270 is identical to the operation S150shown in FIG. 6 so that detailed explanation thereof is omitted.

The above-described method of controlling a DTV or an electronic devicemay be written as computer programs and may be implemented in digitalmicroprocessors that execute the programs using a computer readablerecording medium. The method of controlling a DTV or an electronicdevice may be executed through software. The software may include codesegments that perform required tasks. Programs or code segments may alsobe stored in a processor readable medium or may be transmitted accordingto a computer data signal combined with a carrier through a transmissionmedium or communication network.

The computer readable recording medium may be any data storage devicethat can store data that can be thereafter read by a computer system.Examples of the computer readable recording medium may include read-onlymemory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), CD-ROMs, DVD±ROM, DVD-RAM,magnetic tapes, floppy disks, optical data storage devices. The computerreadable recording medium may also be distributed over network coupledcomputer systems so that the computer readable code is stored andexecuted in a distribution fashion.

Although embodiments have been described with reference to a number ofillustrative embodiments thereof, it should be understood that numerousother modifications and embodiments can be devised by those skilled inthe art that will fall within the spirit and scope of the principles ofthis disclosure. More particularly, various variations and modificationsare possible in the component parts and/or arrangements of the subjectcombination arrangement within the scope of the disclosure, the drawingsand the appended claims. In addition to variations and modifications inthe component parts and/or arrangements, alternative uses will also beapparent to those skilled in the art.

1. A mobile terminal capable of communicating with an electronic deviceincluding a display, comprising: a touch device; a communication unitconfigured to communicate with the electronic device; and a controllerconfigured to match a display area of the display and a touch area ofthe touch device to each other based on the absolute coordinate systemand to transmit control information including position information abouta second point of the display area, which corresponds to a first pointtouched through the touch area, to the electronic device through thecommunication unit.
 2. The mobile terminal of claim 1, furthercomprising a sensing unit configured to sense a variation in theorientation of the touch device, wherein when the sensing unit sensesthe variation in the orientation of the touch device, the controllermatches the display area and the touch area to each other inconsideration of the orientation variation.
 3. The mobile terminal ofclaim 2, wherein the sensing unit includes at least one of anacceleration sensor for sensing a rotation of the touch device on theaxis perpendicular to the surface of the touch device and a grab sensorarranged around the touch device to sense an external object's touchpoint on the body of the mobile terminal.
 4. The mobile terminal ofclaim 3, wherein the controller uses one of the acceleration sensor andthe grab sensor as a main sensor and uses the other as an auxiliarysensor to sense the orientation variation when the sensing unit includesboth the acceleration sensor and the grab sensor.
 5. The mobile terminalof claim 1, wherein the controller matches the display area and thetouch area to each other based on the resolution of the display or thedisplay area.
 6. The mobile terminal of claim 5, wherein informationabout the resolution of the display or the display area is previouslystored in a memory of the mobile terminal or received from theelectronic device.
 7. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein thecontroller receives information about the resolution of contentsdisplayed in the display area from the electronic device through thecommunication unit and matches the display area and the touch area toeach other based on the information about the resolution of thecontents.
 8. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controllersenses the intensity of the touch of the first point and transmits thecontrol information including the information about the touch intensityto the electronic device.
 9. The mobile terminal of claim 1, furthercomprising a haptic module configured to generate vibrations, whereinthe controller controls the haptic module to generate vibrations whenthe touch area is touched.
 10. A mobile terminal capable ofcommunicating with an electronic device including a display, comprising:a touch device; a communication unit configured to communicate with theelectronic device; a sensing unit configured to sense the orientation ofthe touch device; and a controller configured to transmit controlinformation including position information about a touched point in atouch area of the touch device and information about the currentorientation of the touch device to the electronic device through thecommunication unit.
 11. The mobile terminal of claim 10, wherein thesensing unit includes at least one of an acceleration sensor for sensinga rotation of the touch device on the axis perpendicular to the surfaceof the touch device and a grab sensor arranged around the touch deviceto sense an external object's touch point on the body of the mobileterminal.
 12. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the mobileterminal is a remote controller.
 13. An electronic device capable ofcommunicating with a mobile terminal including a touch device,comprising: a display including a display area; a communication unitconfigured to communicate with the mobile terminal; and a controllerconfigured to match the display area and a touch area of the touchdevice to each other based on the absolute coordinate system, to receivecontrol information including information about a touched point in thetouch area from the mobile terminal through the communication unit andto execute a function relating a point of the display area, whichcorresponds to the touched point of the touch area.
 14. The mobileterminal of claim 13, wherein the function relating to the point of thedisplay area includes at least one of a function of locating a pointeron the point of the display area, a function of selecting an iconlocated on the point of the display area and a function of executing theicon.
 15. The mobile terminal of claim 13, wherein the controlinformation further includes information about the intensity of thetouch of the touch area and the controller executes a specific functionbased on the intensity of the touch.
 16. The mobile terminal of claim13, wherein the controller matches the display area and the touch areato each other based on the resolution of the display or the displayarea.
 17. The mobile terminal of claim 13, wherein the controllermatches the display area and the touch area to each other based on theresolution of contents displayed in the display area.
 18. The mobileterminal of claim 13, wherein the control information further includesinformation about the current orientation of the touch device and thecontroller matches the display area and the touch area to each otherbased on the information about the orientation.
 19. The mobile terminalof claim 13, wherein the mobile terminal is a remote controller.
 20. Amethod of controlling an electronic device including a display through amobile terminal capable of communicating the electronic device, themethod comprising: matching a display area of the display and a toucharea of a touch device included in the touch device to each other basedon the absolute coordinate system; receiving a touch input applied to afirst point included in the touch area; and transmitting controlinformation including position information about a second point of thedisplay area, which corresponds to the first point, to the electronicdevice.
 21. The method of claim 21, wherein the matching of the displayarea and the touch area to each other is performed in consideration ofthe current orientation of the touch device.
 22. The method of claim 20,wherein the matching of the display area and the touch area to eachother is performed based on the resolution of the display, theresolution of the display area or the resolution of contents displayedin the display area.
 23. A method of controlling an electronic deviceincluding a display through a mobile terminal capable of communicatingthe electronic device, the method comprising: receiving a touch inputapplied to a point included in a touch area of a touch device includedin the mobile terminal; acquiring information about the currentorientation of the touch device; and transmitting control informationincluding position information about the point and the information aboutthe orientation to the electronic device.
 24. The method of claim 23,wherein the mobile terminal is a remote controller.
 25. A computerreadable recording medium storing a program for executing the controlmethod of claim
 20. 26. A server storing a program for executing thecontrol method of claim
 20. 27. A method of controlling an electronicdevice capable of communicating with a mobile terminal including a touchdevice, the method comprising: matching a display area of a displayincluded in the electronic device and a touch area of the touch deviceto each other based on the absolute coordinate system; receiving controlinformation including information about a touched point of the toucharea from the mobile terminal; and executing a function relating to apoint of the display area, which corresponds to the touched point of thetouch device.
 28. The method of claim 27, further comprising receivinginformation about the current orientation of the touch device from themobile terminal, wherein the matching of the display area and the toucharea to each other is performed based on the information about thecurrent orientation of the touch device.
 29. The method of claim 27,wherein the mobile terminal is a remote controller.